While the next FCC chair needs to understand the ins and outs of technology and related law, that won't be enough. He or she must also understand that consumers are different. And we need a telecommunications system that works for everyone.

Letting go of physical boundaries, 19th-century work practices and an expectation that change is ever complete, may propel some organizations to the front through greater innovation and overall productivity.

I am writing this from the BRICS summit in Durban, where it is clear that the huge momentum of these emerging markets -- especially when it comes to their relationship with Africa -- is not slowing down.

In her new book, Susan Crawford compellingly and disturbingly makes it clear that we are well on our way to a very disturbing future of expensive, substandard and unequal Internet access -- with Comcast boldly leading the charge.

With online learning making the educational process more time-manageable, more graduates are in a better position to complete their degrees and find employment in their desired industries. And there is no better example of this occurring than in telecommunications.

In the past decade alone, the Internet has transformed the way we shop (Amazon), communicate (Skype), and even receive medical care. Yet, a large number of Americans, particularly those in minority communities, lack access to these technological advances.

Local businesses get it. Mayors get it. City councils get it. And unlike Chairman Genachowski, they know what the problem is: little incentive for massive, established cable monopolies to invest in networks when they are harvesting record profits and subscribers have no other choices.

An essential building block to economic growth lies in expanding broadband access to rural America. Instead of pushing each other over the self-made cliff, why not build a bridge across the digital divide?

Hiring not in the budget? By embracing telecommuting, which can reduce overhead costs, saving millions of dollars, companies that haven't been able to increase hiring in the last few years might finally be able reduce the nation's continually high unemployment rate.

Author David Cay Johnston won a Pulitzer Prize in 2001 for his reporting on U.S. tax policy. But in his just released book, The Fine Print, Johnston falls woefully short of that standard in his attempt to critique the state of broadband in the U.S.

Congress and the FCC need to confront the looming monopoly environment most consumers now face for broadband service. If they don't reverse course and start dealing with the reality they've created, even the best conditions will be meaningless.

The FCC had the opportunity to protect consumers by requiring more effective conditions, closing the loopholes created by the DOJ's inconsistent proposed final judgment, and imposing FiOS build-out conditions.

Congress and the FCC have put themselves at this juncture where they now have to choose between taking strong steps the biggest companies abhor, in order to enable competition -- or actually regulating a broadband monopoly.

Perhaps we have found a new metric by which to measure political power -- the cables that link nations to other nations and regions, the networks which allow their citizens to communicate with each other, and the round trip time for data to travel. It is the new Law of the Sea.

For the last 20 years, the nation's major telecom companies have been playing the public and regulatory officials for fools. Now they're claiming they shouldn't be obliged to provide affordable landline service to everyone anymore, as they take the money and run to wireless.